I need...

Discuss ways to improve the quality of your dog's life and longevity through proper nutrition; a place for all of your questions and answers about feeding your pooch!

Please keep discussions fun, friendly, and helpful at all times. Non-informative posts criticizing a particular brand or another poster’s choice of food are not allowed in this Forum. References to any brand of food as "junk," "garbage," or other harsh names will be removed.

Lean is good. Has a vet looked at her and called her underweight? Can you easily see and count her ribs?

If she really does need to gain weight, look into the recipe for "satin balls" and consider feeding puppy kibble instead of regular adult formulas. Puppy kibble is higher in fat/calories without having to feed more like you would an adult food.

Try not to keep her on just people food very long, as it is not balanced.

My dog is what the vet refers to as "atheletic" and most people think she's way too skinny. The problem is we're used to seeing dogs who carry too much weight.

With that, I'd try adding in coconut oil to her diet. It's a good fat and will benefit her. Why would you want to feed a dog rice and other fillers just to gain weight? That's just as unhealthy as a human gaining weight on that kind of junk. Those are fillers, and meant to fill the dog up, but provide little to no nutritional value to your pup.

Nuts are high in fats, seeds are, coconut oil, ghee, natural things that put weight on in a healthy way is good. If you add all that stuff above to your dog's diet, they're going to have massive amounts of stool because almost all those ingredients are going to come right back out. Beef heart and liver are excellent suggestions. Stay away from carbs to put weight on.... worst idea ever --- for a human and an animal!